Confidence Brings Fuqua Devon Grand Championship

PUBLISHED May 28, 2022 WORDS BY Kimberly Loushin and Mollie Bailey

The last time Kat Fuqua was in the Dixon Oval, in the summer of 2021, she walked away with the grand championship from the Adequan/USEF Junior Hunter National Championships—East with Grand Remo. With that win came a little more confidence, and it served the 14-year-old from Atlanta well on her way to winning her first Devon Horse Show grand championship.

“I think my rounds today, after the first round, which I got an 89 in, it just set the bar for me,” she said. “I think Remo remembered Junior Hunter Finals, so he was super confident and I was super confident. All of our rounds were super consistent with each other. They were all good, so I was super happy with his performance.”

Fuqua won the first over-fences round, the under saddle and the stake class and was second in the handy to earn the championship honors in the large junior hunter, 15 and under, division over Raina Swani and Small Occasion. With 36 points, it boosted Fuqua to the grand championship. The judges also named her Best Child Rider on a Horse.

“That was really unexpected,” she said. “I’ve never gotten a Best Child Rider at a championship show, so I was really excited.”